District Constable Mazilyn Miller-Prince of the St Catherine South police division. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

SHE BLUSHED at the memory of March 17, 2009, and a smile slowly brightened her face, awakening the self-confidence hidden in her timid moves.

District Constable Mazilyn Miller-Prince was reliving the day she won the Top Cop Award for being the most outstanding woman district constable in her division for 2009.

"I was not really surprised, but I was happy and everybody was excited for me," said Miller-Prince.

She confessed that she had done a number of things to warrant the award but did not expect to win.

The ever-punctual district constable said her journey into the police force began as a youth club member at the Central Village Police Station.

She recalled watching on local television, years ago, members of the St Elizabeth police youth club at a summer camp, and went to query a similar club at the Falcon Crest Police Station in St Catherine.

Barefooted clubbers

Smiling, Miller-Prince said the youth club began with three females and 13 males, all of whom were barefooted, except for one member.

It is the involvement in the club that made her decide to journey in the police force, with a drive "to give service over self".

During her tenure at the youth club, she served as a youth leader and a national representative for Jamaica.

The committed mother and friend said she was involved in the parent teacher association and other community-based projects.

The avid reader also disclosed that she dislikes saying, 'I am sorry', and therefore lives by the motto: 'Do it right and you can't be wrong'.

shernette.gillispie@gleanerjm.com